Cell Phones Go With Financial Blues

This week's regular workshop meeting of the town board has tuned into a review of the financial blues complete with a resolution to force the return of the Evers Copier Extravaganza. Low and behold, there's even cuts ordered to those union employees who mismanaged the water contract and spending in Water 14 for which no one was ever held accountable. That's about 3 million dollars down the tube over the agreed to contract price and we continue to pay for an inspector who was hired to watch the construction even though that construction is essentially over. We say over, but again there has been little effort to correct the dozens of driveways paved with base material and never restored to their original condition.

Even some of the free toys, cell phones, are on the chopping block as you can see from the resolution. Cell phones will be turned in and trimmed down from 12 to 4 units. The real question is whether the board has the will to make the tough decisions to cut the labor force that uses those cell phones and reorganize town hall.

Maybe they will start to figure out the game being played by a double dipping fire marshal who took it to taxpayers with a hefty family coverage insurance buyout of a program he was never in to begin with. With a full time job as a Troy Fireman, the only way he is able to get the hours here to be full time is by a special work week complete with 10 hour days. Trouble is, no is ever around to supervise him after hours and no one knows what he does after hours. Also no one knows what he spends in town funds. Take a close look at the truck he ordered without town board approval. Hey, can't play without ordering expensive decals from a detailer in Watervliet. Can play as well without fancy cop lights installed under your hood. Can't have as much fun without an expensive computer terminal added to the car for that, yup, laptop computer that attaches to the dash. Add a two way radio, cell phone and about all you need is a good restaurant for a late lunch paid for with that dandy insurance buyout. No problem, just Google that baby on the laptop and you'll get a GPS direction to the drive thru.

All these toys cost taxpayers money and it seems the boys just order what they want and hand in the bills. Maybe a well run business would reverse these spending luxuries by having to go to the town comptroller for PERMISSION to buy the little add ons from lights, to laptops to computer terminals for cars. But hell, the boys in UPSEU can't let accountability get in the way of a day's work. Grieve that baby, just like the whole contract that's up in the air, in part because the union figures the work arrangement for the fire marshall wouldn't be allowed if the Supervisor's permission was replaced with the Town Board's permission in the wording of that crazy contract.

Anyone with a little time, say the Troy Personnel Director, might want to look at those city time cards and compare them to the town time cards. Gee, what a break, the City Personnel Director is on our town board!

Anyway, it is sure to be an interesting meeting with lots of finger pointing at the Supervisor's lack of managerial control and spending prowess.

You can read the entire agenda here.